Sylvanus Olympio

Sylvanus Olympio (6 September 1902-13 January 1963) was the President of Togo from 27 April 1960 to 13 January 1963, the first leader of the independent country. His family was one of the richest in the country, descended from Afro-Brazilians. From 1958 to 1960 he served as Prime Minister, and in 1960, the country became fully-independent, and he became President. Olympio was overthrown and assassinated in 1963 with backing from his enemy of Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana.

Biography
Sylvanus Olympio was born on 6 September 1902 in Lome, Togoland, German Empire, to a Catholic Togolese family descended from a wealthy family of trader Afro-Brazilians. When the United Kingdom and France conquered Togo in 1914, he attended British schools and studied at the London School of Economics. During World War II, he was arrested by Vichy France out of suspicion that he was a British agent, changing his attitude towards French rule. After the war, he pushed for Togolese independence from France, and in 1958 he became Prime Minister of Togo. He came into conflict with Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana over borders, seeking for eastern Ghana (which used to be a part of Togoland) to be returned to Togo, while Nkrumah wanted Togo to become a part of Ghana. Assassination attempts were launched against both leaders.

In 1960, Olympio became President of Togo, and left office as Prime Minister the next year. Olympio refused requests to form the Togolese Army, allegedly tearing up a piece of paper given to him with the request on it. He established friendly relations with the United Kingdom and the United States, although he ruled Togo as a single-party state. Eventually, he decided to create an army in order to prevent Ghana from invading Togo in the future. This was a mistake, as this gave him a major opposition force.

On 13 January 1963, members of the military broke into his house shortly after midnight. He was mortally wounded by several gunshots, and he tried to go to the American embassy. Shortly before dawn, his body was discovered by ambassador Leon B. Poullada three feet from the door. Etienne Eyadema, a French soldier whom Olympio had refused entry into the Togolese Army not long before, claimed to have personally killed Olympio. From 1967 to 2005, Eyadema would serve as dictator of Togo as "Gnassingbe Eyadema".